BUYER BEWARE: I rented a car here for work over a month ago. I did only light driving for work, did not get into car accidents, and there was no damage whatsoever to the vehicle. I returned the car to the attendant at Newark and they checked me with the sight inspection that also confirmed everything was fine. A month passed by and now I was sent a mysterious bill claiming there was "damage" to the vehicle. I was flabbergasted and I reached out to customer support. They say they know there is "damage to the vehicle" but they are not providing me with anything specific or evidence of damage. They have my credit card and are just planning to charge it for alleged damages, when there was nothing ever reported as damaged. This branch is patently dishonest, and I would encourage others to steer away to other car rental places. I am horrified by their actions and their lies right now. read more

It's the holidays so most car rental places are closed. I was very grateful that budget was open. We made our way inside and waited in line for about an hour to get to the front gave them. Our Code showed them how much it was supposed to be which was $78 and they tried to charge 280. We tried to explain that that is not the price we were promised to which they did not care so if you like hidden fees without explanation of what the fee fees are to pay more than you were supposed to pay for your car rental, this is the place for you. Also, I didn't think it was cool that they yelled at the dude next to me and screwed him over to where he was paying over $800 to rent a car for four days grow up. read more

Only two people working at the checkout counter and a long, long line of people. It's Sunday morning and I arrived at 10:40. 30 minutes have passed and I estimate another I have another 30 minutes to go and the line is still long.I was here a month ago on a Tuesday and it was the same situation. The place is clean, the operations part runs great and smooth. It should not be difficult to solve this problem. Plenty of reviews and online post saying the same thing a year ago. Budget obviously doesn't car about the desk service or they need some new management. I won't be using budget again I. Newark. read more

The worst car rental experience in 45 years. Waited almost 2 hours in line, regardless of having a reservation. Returned the car with a tank filled at the gas station right in the airport. Asked to get an email receipt and moved on.Never received the email. I check my CC statement and see almost $100 over the final price. When I got through to CX, they told me the charge was for fuel. Then they said the only way to get this credited was to provide proof of purchase. Just the worst ever - NEVER from this location again. What a waste of my time. read more

1.5hr to check in for a car you already had reservations for and prepaid. Just so much time waiting!!! Once I got the car paperwork it was easy. location was convenient to the new terminal A and the parking lot of was and easy to navigate. I enjoyed the toyota hybrid they put me in and it even has tempted me to go toyota hybrid on my next car. I'm already a big Toyota fan and budget usually places me in a toyota when I rent with them. If they could stream line their counter time and not have such ridiculous tacked on fees it would be more stars. read more

The absolute worst. One person working the desk and dozens of people waiting. This has been an issue at this location for as long as anyone can remember. HIRE MORE AGENTS, BUDGET. Avoid this rental company at all costs. read more

Although the staff was friendly, there were only 2 working the check-ins. Since this was a Saturday afternoon, there was a long line of customers waiting to get cars. During my conversation with the employee, I was able to get an extended few hours at no additional charge. Getting to my rental was no issue. It just took a few minutes to get to the holding location. After inspecting it, I hopped in my rental and made my way to the gate where they checked my drivers license, and I was on my way. Returning the rental was just was easy. The employee checking in the cars was extremely polite and wished me a safe trip back home, as well as thanked me for the business. Super easy. Super fast. read more

Great car, terrible new set up at Newark AirPort. Put up a sign or three on where to return rental cars. And hire someone to wave people in to the new building. You provide a very specific and yet incorrect address to return the car. Maybe get out from behind your desk and test it out. Nightmare. 132 Carson is the building but the entrance is nowhere near that. read more

It is taking about 10 mins per customer, and only 2 staff. The line is like 30 people. Waits to get your contract could be an hour or two. Not worth it. The Avis desk which is adjacent has people moving, and is way shorter. It looks like the same reviews for years. Apparently no one at budget cares. Edited an hour later... The wait for the rental car desk is longer than the trip from TX to Newark read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS LOCATION. They only have one staff person for a line of 45 people and it takes about 5 minutes per person, which translates to over a 3-hour wait just to get a car rental. This is absurd. They're clearly trying to maximize profit by only having one staff on shift while they are renting cars abundantly. read more

Two people working the counter - 50 people in line. No Fast Track. One line for people with reservations or no reservations it's all the same. The service is beyond slow or nonexistent. You will be waiting in line for an hour. Or longer with no guarantee of getting a car even if you have a reservation. The wait was so excruciating and I had little kids with me that we ended up canceling our reservation and taking an $100 Uber for an hour. Will take our chances getting a rental car somewhere else in town. But I'm warning you, this is my second time trying to use this location, the wait is always over an hour and the service is terrible. Rent from someone else. read more

Franz was fantastic! He greeted when and made eye contact when I was in the line. He said, "I'll be right with you," which after a long flight can help with setting the expectation of time frame to get my rental car. He engaged through the entire transaction and put me in a very comfortable vehicle that was suitable for my needs. Thanks Franz for such great service and Thanks Budget for having him! read more

Waited in line 3 hours as they only had 1 person working. They didn't have the vehicle we reserved and the one we got hasn't been cleaned probably not for the last few renters as there are a lot of rental contracts in the car. Horrible budget should be ashamed all the other rental companies had at least 3 people working. read more

A month after returning the car I was hit with a $450 cleaning for having sand all over the car. Called budget and they sent me pictures which were so bad there was a person's finger in half of the pictures. You couldn't recognize a seatbelt let alone a grain of sand. After arguing with them they agreed to reduce it by half, when I asked to speak to a supervisor suddenly I was given a one time courtesy adjustment and the fee was waived. This is really shady. Seems like someone is getting a bonus if they can find excessive fees to add on to rental return charges and if they get called out on them, they backdown. If you rent a car from them, document everything! read more

You get what you pay for. Long lines with only one person assisting you. Never used budget before for car rental, will never use it again.

We returned a car we rented in Syracuse. The car return was seamless. The staff was friendly. The shuttle bus ride from the Budget Rental Car office to the airport terminal was not much more onerous than renting a car from a company located where there is direct AirTrain access (ie... Avis). The rental car savings from Budget compared to Avis is well worth having to take the shuttle to the terminal. read more

We travelled over the holidays to Newark with our children. We waited in a 2 hour line to get our car.... getting out of the rental car area by 1:30 a.m. This is very concerning it was the holidays after all. The company must know how many rentals will be going out and should be sufficiently staffed. When we got to the car the fast pass was already open. There was no way I was going to wait back in the line and get assistance with this error. We already had access to a fast pass and did not need to use this one. I called today and asked to be reimbursed for their error. I was unable to get the necessary assistance. If you use Budget in Newark be prepared for....... Long lines, unhelpful phone staff, and a basic unwillingness to provide assistance. On a more positive note..... The gentleman that was working that evening did do the best job he could. He had to deal with frustrated travelers and he was very pleasant. I applaud him.....but am thoroughly disgusted with this company. read more

I am not going to give them a star This was the worst experience I have ever had renting a car and even after the return it is a headache From start to finish this place is the worst - I arrived and there was a hour wait for the guy because there were 4 people in front of me and he was all alone doing rentals and the exit place then he gives me a car that not only smelled like weed - it had weed on the seats - MEANING IT WASNT CLEANED - which mattered most to me! Then he says - "If you don't want that car then oh well you have to got to AVIS" Sends me to AVIS and the car is not where it is supposed to be so there's another 40 minute wait This car the tracker was hanging under the brake peddle! But it is not 1 am and I am tired so take it and go! Upon returning the car I see a lady sitting in a car brushing her hair on the phone - I said can you please come check the car in - she says just leave it They will email you the receipt. OK ------ I leave Then I get the bill! THEY BILLED ME $120 for gas - THE CAR WAS ON FULL! Now I have called 4 times always get disconnected and I do not know how I can fight these charges! I am so done with Budget! read more

No fast break. 30 people on line. Standing for 1 hr with little kids. Only 2 people at desk and still running old school printers. Spend the money with someone else. Sixt, hertz and even solar express - NO WAIT. Budget - please update you system. It's a digital world. read more

I would give it a 0 star if I can. Looks like they don't wash and sanitize their cars there. Coffee and other liquid (only God knows what) spills everywhere. Dirty from the inside out. Reserved for a Luxury car. All of them are beat up and dirty as shit. When I went to talk to the guy on the floor because I can't stand how shitty the car was. His reaction was "I think you just don't like the car" without even checking the car. WTF! I PAID FOR A LUXURY CAR! I am not expecting to get a BMW or something but at least a decent car!!!!! All the customer server was real bad they all talk like you pissed them off for no reason! read more

So I had a wedding to attend in NJ on Black Friday and arranged my travel accordingly. I had no problems making the car rental reservation and my credit card got charged, etc. I flew in Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) on time and proceeded to ride the air train to the Budget Rental facility at the Newark Airport. When I get there... no line... In my head I think, "woohoo!" but the two representatives are helping folks so I am next up. After about standing there for 10 minutes, I realize that there may be a problem since there is another representative running around and radioing people (trying to find cars). So seems like Budget overbooked.... now I'm starting to think I'm not going to get a car, but still give them the benefit of the doubt. When it is my turn I get up to the counter, the girl already looks stressed out, so in the spirit of the holidays, I tried to be super nice and patient. She pulled up my reservation, and then continues to radio people for another 10min trying to find me a car. They do find me one (It sounded like they poached one from Payless), but I'm not complaining, it just needed to be washed, etc. So I wait another 20min and find out later there is an issue with the car. They ended up upgrading my rental to an SUV to give me the last car on the lot.... but that was after about an hour of just waiting. Luckily, I had not planned on any wedding activities that afternoon, but IF I had, I would have been screwed. My low rating is mostly for the fact that they were ill prepared for a reservation that I had made months ago. They eventually corrected it, but not in a very timely manner. read more

The highlight was a very nice young man who wrote up my contract. After that everything was awful. I needed a full size SUV and was given a Lexus. Sounded good right? I opened the driver door and was welcomed by a patched up hole in the padding over the center stack. Then I saw the car had 48,000 miles. When I started the car the tire pressure indicator had tires pressure that ranged from way under to way over. Saving the worst for last I got onto the highway and when I applied the brakes the rotors and brakes were shuttering heavily. Clearly no maintenance has been performed on this beat up car and was actually unsafe to drive. My guess is that this car was either bought at a used car auction or purchased privately. Shame on Budget and their management for allowing this situations to exist. read more

I guess I was lucky because I had a good experience. Stayed at a hotel near the airport that had an airport shuttle. After breakfast, the shuttle took us to the airport and we picked the car without any waiting. Same experience on the return, drop it quickly. read more

No FastBreak at this location! The FastBreak desk is not staffed and your paperwork will not be ready and waiting. FastBreak customers are still slightly better off but you will wait for some time to get a car. Prepaying for a luxury or sports car does not guarantee it will be there for you. You will be provided the next alternative and are required to call customer service to get a partial refund. I'm a fan of budget generally but three bad rentals at this location. read more

A lot of the reviews that have higher ratings are from those that essentially picked up their cars. Wait until you check your credit card statements a month or so after your initial payment, and see if you think they're still great. Wow! Read the reviews on this particular Budget! I hope the people at corporate read these reviews because, like a lot of these reviews, I'm finding that this location is full of crooks! I agree, with a lot of these reviews in that my experience getting the car was fine. The person at the desk was nice, they didn't have the car we wanted, so we were given an "upgrade". I NEVER take the insurance. NEVER!! I've called my insurance company AAA, checked with the credit card I use. I don't need it. NEVER. So a month after the payment goes through, I see a charge on my credit card for $90 dollars. They charged me for insurance... I specifically said NO INSURANCE TWICE. So when I got this $90 + I called customer service and they say tough. The customer service guy explains that this happens, and that the desk agent makes his money selling the insurance. He tells me there's nothing I can do. When I ask several times to talk to a manager he puts me on hold and comes back telling me that a manager doesn't want to talk to me, and that he'll take 30% off, but that this "offer" will be taken away if I don't agree to it right now. "You're lucky you're getting this." I told him that I wanted to still talk to a manager and he said... ok 50% off. What the hell has happened to customer service? I can't believe that they would darken their name and reputation for $90 bucks. Sad read more

This is the worst rental car location I've dealt with. When picking up my car the young lady at the counter had an attitude that didn't care if she was there or not. She gave me incorrect information saying someone from Budget would be helping me inspect my car. I waited at my car for a good 10 mins and no one came out. I went back and asked her who's going to inspect my vehicle and she said she never told me anyone would!? Waste of my time! To make things worse my car had employ water bottles in the back and some trash left under the seat. When returning the vehicle there were ZERO customers waiting in line but 4 Budget representatives at the counter talking amongst themselves. I had to wait for a few mins and then said EXCUSE ME can I get help before any of them acknowledged me. Rent elsewhere. The customer service for this location will make your experience so bad you wished you picked a vehicle from another company. read more

12 people in line; 2 staff. Fastbreak apparently not an option - so much for my "status." Pathetic. Wish I could give zero stars.

Price they offer in the rental agreement seems to be just a suggestion on how low they may charge if you try your best. In reality, what they charge upon returning car is not related to it. They find ways to get money out of you. In my case, the time they said I returned the car is not when I enter the facility and parked the car but when I the agent prints final receipt. So the time I lost would include 1. Time lost in waiting for car to be inspected 2. Time lost in loading my stuff to another car 3. Time lost in waiting in line (in my case, at busy airport on busy day) 4. Talking to and greeting representative who prints my final price And I heard from many people of many more weird experiences. For me, one lesson learnt. NEVER RENT WITH AVIS BUDGET AGAIN. They waste time and are not expecting that customers rent with them again read more

They don't know what they doing. I dunno why, I dunno what manager left, who wasn't trained or what but somebody at this Budget office has pissed off the wrong person because when I say NOBODY has ANY clue what's happening?? I mean not one single solitary soul. Not you, not me, certainly not anyone that works at this location, and probably not whoever runs Budget nationally. The most ignorant, incompetent, don't have a clue and can't buy one rental car agency I have ever ever dealt with. Y'all I promise I have gone to a dozen different rental car locations in a dozen different cities and never has anywhere CLOSE to this bad an experience. The lady at the counter didn't understand Budget's policies and I saw her get into it with multiple people including myself. When I finally got my car and then went to return it, there were no signs to show where I should return the car. My rental paperwork said there would be somewhere to drop off the slip I got so I could do after hours return. That drop off box was nowhere to be found. Then I tried to ask the lady at the counter where to drop off the car. She said I had to wait for someone to come check me out in row H. When I tell you there was not even the ghost of an employee in row H?? And the cars were parked like shit so I couldn't even get my car all the way into the space to wait for someone. Finally I walked over to the person who was checking out new rental cars, who was the first person with a lick of sense I saw who was in any way connected with this rental car location. She said the people who check out cars had long since gone home and I should park the car and tell the front desk I didn't have all day to wait for them to figure out what they were doing. I laughed, I said thank you, my spirit said amen, and I left that damn car in the lot, gave the front desk lady my receipt and pulled out my phone to write this review. NEVER again, do you hear me?? My options were to pick up this car from Newark airport and take a quick train ride/Uber back to my apartment ten minutes away, or go all the way into the city, spend two hours on the red line to get to JFK, and then drive through New York City to get where I was going. Next time, if my choice is JFK or the Newark Budget rent a car, I will choose the two hour train ride and JFK. Please do yourself a favor and do not rent from these people til they clear up whatever employee they pissed off, whatever corporate manager they slighted, or whatever god of rental cars they sinned against, because until they figure this out, you are begging for misery if you rent one of their cars. Don't do it! read more

I am very disappointed with Budget. The rental pick up and return was a breeze, however over a month after the return. I was charged a damage fee. The car was inspected up return with no damage reported. I am disputing these charges. Thank God I took pictures and have the return rental receipt. read more

Budget used to be my go to vehicle rental. I travel to EWR quite often and rent from them everywhere I go. Not anymore. There policy for debit users (I'm self employed and use this option everywhere I go) have changed and will leave you stranded. Kick them to the curb. There are other options for debit users, though your deposit will be more, you're better off. I will never use them again, anywhere!!!! read more

I am so fed up with Budget! I am switching rental car companies ASAP. I travel all the time for work and I continually never get my Fastbreak car readiness when I arrive at the Newark airport. I had to stand in line twice as long as a non-Fastbreak customer to get my car. You've lost my business for good. read more

Atrocious lack of help at Newark Airport location. I have been in line for 1.5 hours and probably still have another hour based upon the number of people in front of me. On a holiday weekend to only have one staff member is appalling. I will NEVER rent for budget again. DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET REGARDLESS OF THE RATE...YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! read more

See all

One person working!?!?!? I see this crap all the time! I am an executive elite with national but they don't have cars a lot now after most companies had to sell there inventory due to the political virus. Been standing in line for 49 minutes. Horrible!!!! read more

I travelled to Newark Liberty International airport in June of 2017. I had booked my car through Budget. I had been travelling since 3AM from LA and still had a three hour drive in front of me. I am a FastTrack member, which means I could expect to see the keys to my car hanging on a board adjacent to the FastTrack kiosk. I could then just grab my keys and be on my way. When I arrived at Budget, the prominent FastTrack kiosk was deserted. Worse, the board that would normally contain my keys didn't contain mine or anyone else's. There was a line of perhaps ten other customers which I knew from experience meant a fair delay. I politely indicated to one of three staff members that I was FastTrack. " "Be with you in a minute", he replied without looking up. As it turned out, he wasn't. The line was being serviced in order without regard to member-anything by three glum looking and not very helpful staff members. At some point another staff member showed up for work. I had a glimmer of hope when she began logging in at the FastTrack kiosk. She proclaimed "FastTrack" and a guy ahead of me stepped up to get serviced. He got away with it but after that she was verbally instructed to service the line in order. The wait was further exacerbated because there was no apparently nobody outside checking returns, meaning folks returning their car had to come inside. And they were given priority. This is unheard of in the last ten years. In the return lot, someone with a wand typically has you on your way in about thirty seconds. There is no excuse. When I finally got to a staff member, we chatted a bit ( I don't go off on staff because it is rarely their fault..). She told me this was nothing. The previous day they had gotten in trouble for violating the fire code because the line snaked up some stairs. So, this day was not a fluke of some kind. Meanwhile, it is worth pointing out that the neighboring rental desks had little or no line and things appears to be moving smoothly. Budget needs to send some senior folk to EWR to take names and kick some butt. read more

Won't ever be using this company again. We were given a "free upgrade" while the rep we worked with added on their insurance coverage without telling us. We noticed this within an hour of picking up the car but they refused to take this off our total amount charged. Shady business practices. read more

Perfect prices and service compare to neighbors. We got a car in 10 min! Many thanks to Sandra for help! read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Cheap rental in a nice Honda Civic on Labor Day. Return was easy. Attendant gentleman was super nice and efficient. Paid exactly for quoted amount via Priceline. read more

Reserved a vehicle weeks.ago. Now I get to.wait 90 to 120 minutes in a long line to pay and pick up. The lines at their.competitors are very small. Dont.use Budget! read more

A freaking mess!!!! First of all u drive around in circles looking for this place because the cheap bastards don't have their name on the signs. Secondly, the info on website is not true with the info they state. I will miss my father's funeral thanks budget. read more